1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to telecommunications. More specifically, the present invention relates to voice messaging using a mobile communication device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The prior art discusses various techniques for receiving voice mail. As shown in FIG. 8, a conventional method for creating and leaving a voice message for a recipient is generally designated 200. At block 201, a caller dials a telephone number for callee (the recipient). At block 202, the caller waits for the connection to the callee or the callee's voicemail system. At block 203, the caller listens to the callee's greeting. At block 204, the caller listens to the voicemail instructions for the callee's voicemail system. At block 205, the caller records the voicemail message on the callee's voicemail system and disconnects the telephone call. At block 206, the callee receives the voicemail notification, however, the callee does not know from whom the voicemail message was sent and how many voicemail messages may be stored in the callee's voicemail system. At block 207, the callee dials the callee's voicemail system and enters the callee's password to access the callee's voicemail system. At block 208, the callee finally listens to the voicemail message from the caller. The caller is unaware if the callee has received the voicemail message and if the callee listened to the entire voicemail message.
Various improvements to the conventional voicemail system have been proposed in the patent literature.
One example is Markport Limited, International Publication Number 2009/122389 for Voice Mail Processing which discloses a system that allows a user to access a voicemail message through a Short Message Service (“SMS”) and circuit switched voice channel.
Another example is Ruf et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,013,155 for Delivery Of An Instant Voice Message In A Wireless Network Using The SMS Protocol which discloses an interactive voice response system for a sender to use to send a voice message.
Yet another example is Mumick et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,184,786 for Techniques For Combining Voice With Wireless Text Short Message Services which discloses combining speech with existing text wireless SMS to create a multimodal SMS service.